Moot Thoughts & Musings

Well, it's been a busy week, but much better than last week...

On the sleeping front:
I was at my end last week, too long with too little sleep. We had been cosleeping for the first two weeks, but I was gradually getting him into the PacknPlay. We went back to cosleeping, and life is so much better. He went from sleeping 2 hours to 4-5 hours with only slight stirring in the middle of that in one night. I haven't really figured out to nurse effectively in bed. Sometimes he gets it, other times not. But sleeping is better, so I'm not complaining. You can't blame him. When his natural tendency is to curl up, lying him on his back isn't the most comfy.

On the social front:
My dad grows plants for a living, as everyone in his family has since my grear-great-grandfather opened a green house in Baltimore. He had a trade show nearby, so we went to ooh and aaah at his display of perennials and to show off Ellis to distant relatives and close friends at their respective booths.

And yesterday. I applied the skills of my trade and served as judge for a little composition contest among the piano students of a woman at church.

I also got a hair cut. I feel more grown-up.

On the work front:
I'm having to reconceive of Me as Student. It's all changed. More later.

My dancing star is getting bigger:

Posted by at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

After listening to his mom and dad read Harry Potter all week, Ellis attempts to summon his pacifier by nonverbal spell. Little does he know that HP is actually pretend, and he is soon thwarted. After which, he resorts to more common means of pacifier summoning. First, looking cute. Second, crying. The latter makes effectual his desire.

Posted by at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This week we had a real spate of visitors come to see Ellis. In fact, it got to be kind of much. It was lovely to see each and every person, but combined with the fact that sleep has been eluding me for quite some time, I reached my limit. So when I woke up yesterday morning with a plugged duct, I screeched things to a halt and went to bed cancelling all engagements. Seems to have worked, and I desperately needed the rest.

Just having visitors is something of a phenomenon. This just didn't happen in New Orleans, which may as well have been the edge of the universe. It was a place that one had to purposefully go to. Philly is quite the opposite. It is a crossroad and a city in the vicinity. It's near things and a place people pass through. As a result, I've seen more old friends and such in the few weeks we've been here than I think I did in our entire four years in NOLA. It's definitely fun, but when I am reasonably rested.

Nighttime still continues to be a bit of a challenge. We're still waking up every couple of hours. But that's ok. At five and half weeks, Ellis is probably just over eight pounds. The reason he wakes up so much is because his little tummy can hold only so much before refills are necessary. His tummy is the size of a typical newborn now, so I kind of feel like we're at point zero now. I'm not upset or anything. This is just the way it is, and I'll be patient as he grows, knowing that every time i feed him is another step along that path of growth. But after five and half weeks of getting like four hours of sleep a night all broken up into hour chunks, I feel a bit worn down. Maybe I'll just get used to it. But in the meantime, I think I'm just going to continue to take life slowly. I simply cannot have four visitors in one day and make dinner.

On a lighter note. We're really enjoying HP6; not done with it yet. I like how how Linnea put it, "reading a book with the whole world".

Posted by at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

So yesterday's outcome:

We did indeed go thrifting, and I got tons of stuff for a grand total of $20. Gotta love it. I had heard of this one store off of Germantown Ave, so that's where we went. Unfortunately, we couldn't try things on, so I got a variety of sizes wh. is probably good, b/c there's a couple of things to meet me halfway between Now and Old Clothes. I did find a couple of pairs of drawstring linen pants: absolutely perfect for my body/summer weather. So overall I declare the mission a success.

On the way home we stopped at Border's to get HP6. I expected it to be plastered all over the store, but no, you had to ask for a copy from behind the desk. We usually read our HP's outloud. It's fun to share the experience; we don't fight over the book; and I don't read so stinkin' fast that I miss parts. But I've had a sore throat from sleepless nights, so we'll see how long this lasts.

We're also addicted to this BBC scotland show "Monarch of th Glen", wh. we get off of netflix. Had to get in our token episodes.

After a tough day of shopping.

On Sunday we visited a new church...an OPC mission work that is more 'urban' in focus, i guess. We'll see if it's something we want to commit to. We like the idea of being in a mission work.

No! not the mamarazzi again!

Posted by at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Should we...

...go to the thrift store to find me some "transitional" clothes (i.e. between maternity and size 6)?

...go to Borders/Starbucks to see if there are any copies of HP6 left? and then veg for two days reading it?

...both of the above? one of the above?

...be really good and work on a paper? (not!)

...think about it all day until it's over and we haven't done anything?

Posted by at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I didn't get a chance to blog on Thursday, so Happy Bastille Day!!! Last year I was in Paris with AlisonF, and it was way fun. This year I contented myself with a baby shower.

My cousins in Lancaster threw us a baby shower and many friends from the area came. It was a lot of fun to be seeing people again. People I've mostly gotten to know over series of school breaks at home. These handful of people, though, I always genuinely looked forward to seeing again, and I was touched that they would come out after all these years to celebrate Ellis's birth. And Ellis got quite a haul, too. All stuff we could use/needed, so that was great! One lady even sewed the most adorable overalls with a sailboat on them for him!!! We spent the night in Lancaster, (Ellis's first sleep over!) and came back yesterday.

This morning, my phone rang, and my fabuloso friend Sarah called to say she was on the NJ Turnpike on her way from Connecticut to Chattanooga. She stopped in for an hour. It was so fun to see her!! I'm so glad she'll be a short driving distance away now, since she's moving to CT.

Not much else going on. It's nice to have a bit more energy. Will be nicer to get out of maternity clothes.

Posted by at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I kind of didn't get a chance to finish. Archiving the belly pics. Glad not to be hauling around that load anymore.

17 weeks

21 weeks, grumpy

24 weeks

30 weeks

33 weeks

Posted by at 3:39 PM | Permalink

Posted by at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We've had our first bath this week, thanks to the advent of the belly button. It wasn't Ellis's most favorite event of the day.

Yesterday we went to visit his peer group, too. There's a couple of people I know from Cov who've had baby boys in the last couple of months, so I went over there to chat and hang out a bit. Fun to sit around and nurse with someone else. How weird is that?! definitely new phase of life.

My Guys.
The hardest thing we do in a day is wake up.

For the record: Ellis actually looks like Chris. Since most of my readership knows me better than him they think he looks like me, but really he looks like Chris. When Ellis does look like me, I think it's the eyes. Not so much their physical features, but their manner and expression.

Either way, though, I think he is one cute boy!

Posted by at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is the day I was going to begin lookin' for the boy. Though I had hoped he would be born on the 14th for Bastille Day. ;-)

Posted by at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This weekend my good college friend Joanna and her husband Tim came to visit from Pittsburgh. It's so great to be near enough to my friends again that weekend visits are a possibility. We decided to go to the Rodin Museum here in Philly. Six years ago, Joanna and I went to the Rodin Museum in Paris, and it was easily one of our favorites there. This was also Ellis's first trip to an art museum. Hopefully many more will follow as we attempt to culturate him.

We saw some things that we had seen in Paris, as well, including The Thinker, The Gates of Hell, and The Burghers of Calais. I love The Gates of Hell because of all the detail. Apparently rodin was really into Dante when he was working on them. I tried to pick out the different parts of Inferno on there, but all I could really make out was a mass of moving, writhing figures. It is so dynamic.

The Burghers of Calais is fascinating, too. It was based on an event from the Hundred Years War. The English king laid siege to Calais. He agreed to free the city if six of its most prominent citizens would give themselves up. These six were all set to be hanged. (Rodin captures such a wide range of emotion on each of their faces.) But the English queen hearing of their noble sacrifice intervened, and they were spared. Other pieces I liked were his many sculptures of hands and I came across this small one of mother and child, which struck me with its particularly intimate pose.

Ellis, what did you think of the museum?

In other Ellis news:
He had his 4 wk (wh. he'll actually be on Wed) appointment today, and he weighed in at 7'14"!! Woohoo! Almost 2 lbs in 2 weeks.
He's also legal now, too, with a birth certificate and social sec. card.
AND as of yesterday, he now has a belly button!!
Way to go Ellis!!

Posted by at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

NO I DO NOT FIT SIZE 6 YET! :-) Blah. I'm still in maternity clothes. Every few days I try on different pairs of pants or jeans. Can barely get them around my hips. I think my pelvis is ruined forever. I keep trying to tell myself it's only been 3 weeks, but sometimes it feels like forever. I'm still healing, too. Time, time, time.

I'm pretty tired, too. My boy is a little guy with a little tummy that needs to be filled in little time intervals. I realized that I've only been getting 1-2 hour chunks of sleep at a time. Because when I feed him it takes like an hour. He's kind of a dawdler. He eats fine and latching on is going pretty well; he just takes his jolly time about it. I feel end-of-semesterish. But at least I don't have to think...yet. I do have some work I need to get back to, but I'm still on my self-granted maternity leave, so I'm not worrying about it yet. Someday he'll sleep more. We can manage.

The thing that is really getting me, though, is leaky diapers!! I haven't had a chance to look for infant cloth diapers yet. But I will, because Huggies is driving me crazy!!!

I'm really glad Chris is a teacher and is home for the summer. He's been really great.

Posted by at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I had to snap fast in order to catch it, so it's not as clear as I'd like.

This past weekend was Ellis's first official holiday, the Fourth of July. (Funny to think that just a year ago, I was hopping off to Italy on the Fourth.) On Saturday we went to Lancaster, delivering my brother Nick who had flown into Philly. We spent a quiet day hanging out on the back porch by the pond. My great-aunt and uncle came over. Ellis is now their great-great-nephew. Imagine that! That's what happens when a couple of generations has babies young.

My dad has a lot of cousins in the area, so on Monday, one of them hosted a cookout for all the relatives. So Ellis had his first family get-together, too! He was passed around and cooed over the entire day. Such is life, huh? He better soak it up, because he'll have to start sharing the attention with his cousin next March. (That's right! My sister Mary is pregnant!) I like our little trips to Lancaster. There's a Starbucks on the Turnpike, and when we get off the Trnpike, we travel through rolling fields and countryside. It's very picturesque, and the trip is just over an hour, so quite doable.

But multiple trips to Lancaster did wear us out a little, so we've been chillin' the past couple of days. I found a Whole Foods up here. It's not as fun as our old one on Magazine St., but I found some familiar favorites that gave me comfort. (Like 365 brand raspberry soda.)

I miss New Orleans. This feels like the long vacation that I wish were over now, but eventually it will morph into Where We Live. While were at C's parents' we're in the suburbs, so part of what I miss is the buzz of living in the city. And New Orleans always feels fun. I miss the sun, too. Perhaps not so much of the intense heat. But the sun is closer there. It's always present. Like the mountains in some places, or the sky in others. It's cold here. I miss being tan. It's a lot more work up here to get a tan, because we're so far away from the sun. It is nice to be able to actually be outside in the summer, though, so I guess I can't complain too much.

There's a few Covenant people that go to my in-laws church. A couple of them just had babies, four weeks and two weeks before Ellis respectively. 3 baby boys in a month. I'm not sure if I'm ready to be Church Mom yet. Sort of like when I got married and realized that I had to be a Church Lady and bring stuff to potlucks and stuff. It feels weird, like I'm not sure if it's me yet. Can't really explain. Anyway. Kind of fun to have other little boys around, though. And it's nice to know some people already from before.

Posted by at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Posted by at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I don't care if my blog is going to turn into all things Ellis for awhile, because, hey, that's my life right now, and he's only go to be my little, tiny baby for so long.

He was two weeks old last Wednesday. If I were still pregnant, I'd be 38 weeks. I would thinking about packing my hospital bag, writing a birth plan, and washing baby clothes. As I have a two week old son instead, I'm not doing those things. Well, washing baby clothes, yes, yes, and yes some more. I was looking at Ellis and thinking that when most babies are his size, they are still inside their mama's tummies, but I get to see my guy at his size. I think he's growing. He's looking chubbier. I'll be glad when he actually fits his newborn size clothes. But we're getting there.

Right now a few highlights to the day (or night) include desperately trying to remember to check the diaper often. Sometimes I forget when the last time I changed him was and am rewarded with pee everywhere. He's wearing preemie size diapers. Maybe they're too small? But the newborn size attaches practically under his armpits! Can't wait 'til he's big enough for cloth. So anyway, they weren't kidding when they said that I'd have a lot more laundry with a baby. So thankful for the washer and dryer in the house.

We've been taking little outings every day. I've got to get out of the house. My mom was here from Tues evening to Thurs evening. On Wednesday we walked around Chris's new school along with my mom's best friend, also a recent hiree of the school (so fun to have her close by). Then we went to Grace's (the friend) house to hang out. Yesterday, we bought our stroller. And it is fab-o!! Since we had gift money for that expressed purpose, we got one nice stroller. It's not the one I was looking at before. I decided that we just really needed to go to the store and check them out. I really like this one. It's super light (only 9 lbs) and drives/turns super easy. So anyway, another thing is added to our collection of baby paraphenalia.

Today we opened new bank accounts and hung out at Starbucks. I actually managed a first public feeding in a corner of Starbucks this afternoon. (I kind of have a whatever attitude about nursing in public. Yea, I'll do it discreetly. But I really don't care if it bothers people...esp if I'm being discreet...because they just need to get over themselves if they're bothered by an infant's basic sustenance!) Uuum, but what do you do when a diaper change is desperately needed (like there's poo everywhere) and there's no where to change a diaper?! Apparently our local Starbucks does not come equipped for a family's every need.

So I'm trying to figure out eating, sleeping, and pooping. It seems to change everyday. Now he has a period of alert wakefulness first thing in the morning. Didn't think I'd lose my sleeping in so soon. When he's so alert, I like to pay a lot of attention to him. I hate to miss a moment! We're having such fun with him.

Posted by at 7:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)